Game warden cases and a followup: Some poachers pay heavily for their litany of lawlessness

A month or so ago, a reader of this blog wondered if I might do follow-ups on some of the most egregious cases noted in the game warden “blotter” I cobble together each week — let folks know what kind of penalties, if any, poachers and other criminals receive for their misdeeds.

I explained it’s tough to do that. Most of the fish/game/water safety violations for which Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens issue citations are Class C misdemeanors handled in Justice of the Peace courts. Chasing down disposition of those cases would take a lot of calls and visits to JP courts and eat up a ton of time and money.

But his point is well taken. It would be informative to learn how courts handle some of these cases. Do they take them seriously? Are the guilty appropriately punished, or just slapped with a minimal fine?

Here’s how one recent case played out. You decide how serious some courts take wildlife-related offenses.

In early March, Dimmit County game warden Gene Fernandez turned over to prosecuting officials a case that involved an out-of-state oil field worker who had shot and killed a large-antlered buck white-tailed deer at night in a RV park along the Nueces River.

The subject not only shot the buck at night with a light without landowner consent, but used a .17-caliber HMR rim fire rifle (illegal for taking deer), had no valid Texas hunting license, and tagged it with a tag that he “got from a friend.”

Fernandez learned the buck’s head had been taken to a taxidermist’s shop in Louisiana, and one of the subject’s family members was planning to pick it up and attempt to destroy it.

Fernandez contacted a Louisiana Fish and Game agent who got the head and cape secured.

That same day, Warden Fernandez received a call from the violator himself stating that he was on his way down from North Texas to meet with Fernandez and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent out of Laredo. Officers interviewed the subject who gave a full confession.

Based on Fernandez’s work, the Dimmit County Attorney filed two Class A misdemeanor charges (hunting at night and hunting with a light); and two Class C charges (hunting without a valid license and using illegal means and methods).

Two weeks after Fernandez completed his investigation, the violator was tried in a Justice of the Peace court in Dimmit County where he pled guilty to both Class A misdemeanors as well as both Class C misdemeanors.

His Marlin .17-caliber HMR scoped rifle was forfeited. He is prohibited from legally hunting in Texas or any of the other 30-plus states in the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact for the next five years.

The convicted poacher faces about $10,000 in criminal fines and civil restitution for illegally taking the buck, which scored 132 5/8 Boone and Crockett Club points.

And that may not be the worst of it. Illegally taking wildlife or fish in one state and transporting it across state lines is a violation of the federal Lacy Act, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials out of Laredo are considering pursuing federal felony charges in the case.

Pretty serious.

Here’s this week’s litany of larceny and assorted lawlessness:

• Harris County game warden Bobby Apple recently received information through an Operation Game Thief (OGT) report about a person who was hunting at night on an abandoned golf course.

After sitting out several nights for a few weeks, warden Apple discovered the man on the golf course one evening.

When questioned about his activities, the man confessed to killing a 7-foot alligator with his bow in one of the ponds on the golf course.

The hide, meat, and head were later seized from the man’s house.

Several citations were issued.

Cases pending.

• Harris County Game Warden Bobby Apple on March 30 responded to an OGT call giving information concerning several individuals allegedly catching and putting undersized fish in their car at Clear Lake Park.

Upon arrival at the park, warden Apple found the individuals loading up and about to leave the park.

While searching their vehicle, Apple found undersized flounder and black drum along with many other nongame fish.

Warden Apple also noticed that no rods and reels were present in the vehicle.

A 150-foot gill net, which was discovered tucked away in the car, had been used to catch all the fish by dragging it between the piers in the park.

Several citations were issued.

Cases pending.

• Harris County Game Wardens Kevin Creed and Susan Webb along with Liberty County Game Warden Daniel Diaz and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department on March 27 recovered a Honda Rancher four-wheeler and other items stolen in a burglary.

The complainant has lost several four-wheelers, trailers, AC units, copper wire, and many other items through thefts on his property where he put together hunting trips in which groups of mobility impaired people, including the Wounded Warrior group, participated.

The landowners finally had enough and placed a GPS tracking device on his equipment.

When the tracking device alerted him to the theft, he called the game wardens who met him at his property and followed him to a residence in the South Liberty Oil Field area where the GPS tracking unit indicated the stolen 4-wheeler was located.

Subjects at the location quickly gave up the names of the relatives from whom they obtained the stolen merchandise.

In a couple of hours, game wardens located two of the suspects.

Wardens called the sheriff’s office, and officers came out and took statements in which these two suspects implicated each other and a cousin.

The sheriff’s officers located the final suspect, obtained a statement from him, then obtained arrest warrants.

Several other cases were also solved by these interviews.

• Matagorda County Game Wardens David Janssen and Aaron Koenig, and Fort Bend County Game Warden Barry Eversole were patrolling West Matagorda Bay on March 27 when they made contact with a commercial shrimp boat that was returning from the Gulf of Mexico.

While inspecting the boat’s cargo, the wardens discovered seven sacks of sheepshead buried under a large quantity of shrimp.

A total of 105 fish were seized and sold to the highest bidder.

Charges for exceeding the possession limit of sheepshead are pending.

• Working on the lower Texas coast, game wardens Jason McFall and Brad Meloni arrested two individuals on March 31 in possession of 1,248 pounds of marijuana hidden inside the suspects’ boat.

The suspects had cut holes in the floorboard of their 21-foot Kenner center-console fishing boat.

Wardens suspected something wasn’t right when they noticed fresh fiberglass, observed material commonly used for packaging drugs and other clues.

A local K-9 dog brought to the scene also alerted to narcotics.

The subjects were arrested and case turned over to the Kingsville Tri-County task force.

Game Wardens Matt Strauss and Royce Ilse assisted in this investigation.

• On Friday night, March 25, Trans-Pecos region game wardens Daniel Kessler, Andrew Banda, Erin Albright, Matt Bridgefarmer and Captain Jim Porter teamed up with U.S. Customs and the Department of Public Safety to apprehend three drug smugglers who had been operating in the remote areas of Jeff Davis County for some time.

The three subjects were in possession of three “backpacks” of marijuana totaling about 145 pounds.

The game wardens’ knowledge of the remote area was crucial in the apprehension of the smugglers.

• Webb County Game Warden Colt Gaulden on March 25 filed 39 cases including hunting javelina without a license, waste of game and over limit on javelina.

Cases stemmed from an earlier contact where Gaulden entered a camp and found hidden javelina heads prior to the hunters returning.

Gaulden later contacted the hunters, who denied hunting javelinas until warden Gaulden reminded them of the javelina heads hidden in the brush 30 yards behind their camp.

• On March 22 and 23, the TPWD law enforcement division’s Dive Team responded to a call for immediate assistance from the Texas Rangers and Ellis County Sheriff’s Office.

A possible homicide victim had been found severely decomposed in a remote area near a body of water.

A suspect, who was also the last to be seen with the victim, claimed that the death was an accident.

Several personal items were missing from the body, and the Rangers had a hunch that evidence which might help prove intent to cover up the death might be found in adjacent the body of water.

TPWD divers shocked the investigative team when they surfaced from the bottom of the body of water with a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

Rangers and investigators suspect the pistol was used in the homicide.

The investigation immediately refocused in a new direction, and the search was quickly followed by search warrant executions and new interviews.

The suspect has been charged with the homicide.

• A Harris County Grand Jury on March 31 returned indictments against two Houston corporations and two individuals for felony water pollution.

The corporations along with one individual, the principal owner, were charged with two counts each; the second individual was charged with one count.

The case was worked by Sgt. Cynthia Guajardo-Sorrell and the Houston Police Department’s Major Offenders Unit, and a search warrant was served approximately two years ago.

The targeted facility was a Houston engine rebuilding and auto repair operation.

in regards to taking game illegally, all charges i have seen so far are misdemeanors. are any felonies?

thanx for the story on the deer and coon ass, it completes the story.

You’re correct that almost all game, fish and boating safety violations are misdemeanor criminal issues. But Texas does designate a handful of game violations as felony matters. For example, in Texas, a person who kills (takes) a white-tailed or mule deer, pronghorn antelope or desert bighorn sheep without the permission of the landowner – poaches – can be charged with a felony.

Also, some cases involving fraud and falsified government documents (such as boat titles, sales tax calculations, etc.) can result in felony charges.

How did the oil field worker “Walk” on the felony he commited by killing a deer on another’s land withoug permission? A permission the landowner could not have given anyway as the act was perpetrated at night, with an illegal caliber rifle. This tells me the system did not work too well in this case. The man should have been charged with a felony, and sent to prison!!!!

Why pass a law if it is not to be enforced?

Often, in these types of cases, prosecuting attorneys use the threat of felony charges for poaching (taking deer without landowner permission) as a negotiating tool to get a suspect to plead to a package of lesser charges, avoiding the additional expense (both the state and the defendant) of a trail but still hammering the poacher with severe fines.

From the sound of things, the guy may well face felony federal charges for violating the Lacey Act.